When Leroy McCambry stole a Jeep from an East 5th Avenue gas station in Gary, he unwittingly interrupted a man reselling marijuana edibles inside, court records allege.
McCambry ended up getting chased and shot on the road, flipping and wrecking a home’s garage on the city’s west side two miles away.
Two men are implicated in connection with his April 2 death, according to an affidavit.
One, Maurice D. Thompson, 45, of Gary, the alleged accomplice, was charged with murder Wednesday. His case was unsealed Thursday afternoon following his arrest. He is being held without bail.
The second man, Thompson’s relative, who was selling the drugs, is also implicated, according to court filings. The Post-Tribune is not naming him until his charges are unsealed.
McCambry, 22, of Chicago, was found fatally shot in the torso in the vehicle under a pile of debris on the 300 block of Hayes Street. He was pronounced dead at 8:10 pm and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
It is not immediately clear who fired the fatal shots. Court documents state both men had guns. McCambry was unarmed, the affidavit states. The Jeep’s driver’s side had over 13 bullet holes.
Indiana State Police Detective Brian McCall with the Lake County Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force wrote in a charging affidavit he was called on April 2 to the 300 block of Hayes Street where the Jeep Commander crashed into a garage.
Witnesses said it happened around 7 pm
One witness saw a man with “salt and pepper” facial hair in “all green” and a black jacket with a right sleeve patch sprinting away with a gun, yelling that someone stole his vehicle. He got into a dark Chevrolet Equinox that drove off.
“They stole my car,” the man said.
Police allege the relative left the Jeep running while he was inside trying to sell edibles to gas station customers for cash at a Citgo, 901 E. 5th Avenue. He went back and put gummies back in the vehicle then went back to the gas station just before it was stolen.
He called Thompson, who was nearby, to pick him up. A Chevrolet Equinox pulled up two minutes later, a man police suspected was Thompson went inside to get the relative, then they left.
Police allege the men chased and shot at McCambry before the relative changed clothes and went back to the same gas station just before 8 pm to report the SUV was gone. Witnesses and surveillance footage contradicted or filled out details police told the man left out of his story.
Now wearing a black sweatshirt and jeans, the relative was chatty, telling cops he borrowed his father’s SUV and was inside buying lottery tickets when he heard someone take it.
He thought it was a prank, waited to see if someone would bring it back, then called Thompson for a ride, who told him to call the cops. The relative claimed a man named “Chi” picked him up before turning vague on details.
When he first arrived, security footage showed the relative, wearing all green, left the Jeep running and went inside. McCambry jumped in and took off.
License plate readers showed the Equinox chasing the Jeep going west on 4th Avenue.
Two miles west, video footage showed the Jeep “flying through the air” before it crashed into the garage on the 300 block of Hayes Street. Two men get out.
“Where he at,” one says.
The relative and Maurice Thompson split up, not realizing McCambry was in the crashed garage. They ran back and took off. Witnesses said both men had guns.
Inside the Jeep, cops found a white paper bag with five pouches with over 170 grams of “Kushy Punch” marijuana edibles sold in Michigan and California.
